The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s directive to media platforms to avoid using the word “Dalit” in favour of “Scheduled Caste” has invoked a mixed response among community leaders in the BJP, which heads the ruling NDA.
While the chair of the BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha, Vinod Sonkar, has said the directive was the “right thing to do”, his predecessor and Bihar MLC, Sanjay Paswan, has voiced reservations about it.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Paswan said semantics were important in social movements, and the view of social scientists and activists should have been taken before the Ministry issued the directive.
Political heft
“The use of the word ‘Shudra’ was Sanskritic and the use of ‘Harijan’ to denote the community was steeped in religious ethos. The word ‘Dalit’ is political, in its meaning and connotation; it has an assertion, an aggression to it. Each word has a journey, and words should be allowed to die organically rather than like this,” he said. “The Dalit communities have a lack of realisation and the upper castes have a lack of understanding of issues facing the community,” he said.
Mr. Sonkar, however, differed with Mr. Paswan. “Had Babasaheb [B.R. Ambedkar] wanted to use ‘Dalit’, the word would have been in the Constitution. It is quite proper that the community is called the Scheduled Caste, and even the media should be asked to refer to it as such,” he said.
The Ministry’s directive comes after the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry advised government departments that the word ‘Dalit’ not be used in official communication.
